Olympic lifting is the staple of athletic workouts. Every single high-caliber athlete starts their workout with some variation of an Olympic movement. They can be broken down into their various components (e.g., clean pull, hang clean), and sometimes are done in their entirety. In addition to being an excellent workout tool, the Olympic lifts themselves can be considered an international sport. They have been part of the Olympics in one form or another since the inaugural modern Olympics in 1896. Strength is important. Size can sometimes be significant, but speed is always significant in every sport. The Olympic lifts are the best way to increase strength while increasing power output and athletic explosiveness.

Here is my caveat for this article: Although I will do my best to outline the best approach to learning how to clean and provide some helpful tips, I do think that the best way to learn these exercises is with a coach. These are incredibly complex movements that require total body coordination. A lot of what you do with this exercise is hard to put down on paper. Reading about something and then actually doing it are entirely different! There are 100 things a coach would see that you may miss. So if you are given the opportunity to learn from a qualified coach, I would take it.

If you are just starting out this is the best progression to use to get comfortable with the clean.

First, using an unloaded bar or a PVC pipe, begin in the power position (bar at hips), load the hamstrings slightly and pull into a power clean. The position for catching a power clean will be the same as for a front squat. The difference between a clean and a power clean is that a clean is caught at the bottom of a squat while the power clean is caught in more of a quarter squat position.

After performing a few repetitions, you can move on to the slide and power clean. Start again in the power position. This time, slide the bar down the legs until it reaches the hang position. In this position the bar should be just above your knees, your back should be flat, and your legs slightly bent. From this position pull the bar again into a power clean.

The final part of this progression is a hang power clean plus a front squat. After mastering this sequence, you can move on to pulling from the floor, and working on getting under the bar faster and lower. One of the best ways to learn how to clean on your own is to watch a few YouTube videos. By doing that, you can put images into your mind that match up with what I am explaining.

Overall form and technique tips

Never spot an Olympic lift! Learn how to bail properly on a lift to prevent injury. If you lose a lift and are in danger of dropping it, just step away from the bar as you also push it away from yourself.

The first pull should never be faster than the second pull. Yanking the bar from the floor will cause needless horizontal displacement and cause you to miss lifts.

Always keep the bar close to your body during a clean. The farther it gets away from you to more it tends to loop, and you could miss the lift.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Don’t let your hips rise too fast. As soon as you raise your hips faster than your back you lose the power of your legs and you revert to yanking on the bar with mostly your back muscles.

Move around the bar, don’t try to move the bar around yourself

Triple extension: At the most explosive part of the movement your feet, knees and hips should be extended. At this point, the bar should be passing your waistline, and you should be preparing to duck back under the bar and catch the clean.